Part of the fun of gardening is choosing gardening tools and equipment and then pottering around your roof terrace or balcony. Obviously, the list of essential tools is not as extensive as for a garden on the ground, but here I’ve suggested items that I’ve found the most useful.
You’ll probably find that a couple of smaller watering cans are more useful than one large one, which will be heavy to lift when full of water. A watering can with a long spout can also be useful in helping you reach in between plants in a larger container. You’ll probably need a rose attachment to deliver a softer shower when watering seeds or delicate plants like seedlings or annuals. It’s also a good idea to choose a watering can that you find easy to carry because you’ll be spending a lot of time watering your plants in summer. You can, of course, water plants with a garden hose. If you don’t have an outdoor tap for the hose, then you can buy special hose attachments to fit on indoor taps.
These are vital tools for the balcony gardener; you’ll be turning to them time and again for breaking up potting mix, digging out holes for new plants, and weeding. You can buy trowels and hand forks with wooden or plastic handles, but invest in stainless-steel tools if possible because they are more effective. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, try out the tools in the shop first to find out which ones are the easiest to handle. My first trowel and hand fork are still in their packaging because they were so uncomfortable to use.
Even on a balcony or roof terrace, there will be wayward plants that need trimming or cutting back, so a good pair of hand pruners (secateurs) is absolutely essential. If you are growing bamboo or laurel as screening plants, roses in pots, or evergreens such as box or holly, then at some stage these will need tidying up, pruning, or shaping.
When growing vegetables or herbs, always buy good-quality, preferably organic, seed so that your produce is free from chemicals. Also buy some coir pots for sowing your seeds in, as these are more environmentally friendly than plastic pots and polystyrene plant trays—they simply rot down in the potting mix when you transplant the young plants to their more permanent containers.
When suspending window boxes and troughs from a balcony, make sure that they are securely fixed. Always hang the box or trough on the inside of the balcony and not over the edge where they could fall and injure someone. You can buy adjustable balcony brackets to match the filled weight of the window box: small brackets for a small box (weighing 44lb/20kg) and large brackets for a large box (weighing 88lb/40kg). Also available are balcony hooks for both normal and wide balcony ledges, as well as wall hooks.
Labels are indispensable, especially if you are going to forget the names of the plants or seeds you’ve just planted. I suggest you make using labels a part of your planting routine, so that you automatically insert a label (written in indelible pen) in the pot as soon as you’ve finished. There is no need for plastic labels, either; why not use metal, copper, or slate ones, which are much more decorative? Consider also raising your containers slightly off the “ground” with special pot “feet.” Not only do these allow for extra drainage, but they may also help deter slugs. Other useful items include string or twine, wooden post supports, and metal wire for tying in plants, as well as a trug for harvesting crops.
Use plastic spray bottles to mist plants indoors and tackle unwelcome pests and diseases with organic chemical products. For safety’s sake, label the bottles with their uses and always follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully.
A pair of gloves Wear a pair of gardening gloves when you are handling potting mix and pruning plants, for example. You can, of course, wear a very practical, rather utilitarian-looking pair of gloves, but there are some beautifully patterned ones available that make garden pottering much more stylish.